Interview: Tom Gray On Chatham Water Rates, Growth, Trains

Chatham's mayor stands behind the village's choice to stop buying water from Springfield's public utility.

Along with New Berlin, Chatham is a customer of the South Sangamon Water Commission, established so the villages could avoid rate hikes from City, Water, Light and Power.

But the Commission has itself raised rates, and Mayor Tom Gray last week cast the tie-breaking vote to tack those new costs onto Chatham residents' water bills. Gray believes the increase was "not that great". He argues that rates will stabilize over time.

Gray says the village, which last year shut off city water before a contract with CWLP was up, is now trying to settle a legal dispute - talks he characterizes as "amicable" and "making progress".

Mayor Gray joined us on Illinois Edition to talk about the cost of supplying water to a growing community, economic development and rail improvements in his town: